


S.O.S.

by s_u_n_b_i_r_d



Category: Xiaolin Showdown (Cartoon)
Genre: AU, Abusive Relationships, Angst, Angst and Feels, Angst and Tragedy, Betrayal, Blood and Violence, Dark Fairytale Themes, Domestic Violence, F/F, F/M, Fairy Tale Elements, Friends to Enemies, Implied Crush, Implied Feelings, MW! AU, Marijuana, Mental Anguish, Mental Breakdown, Mental Health Issues, Mental Instability, Multi, Post-Betrayal, Recreational Drug Use, Self-Sacrifice, Timber is a stoner, Underage Drug Use, Unrequited Crush, Unrequited Love, Violence, and Shadow's crush on Timber actually builds up over MW!, and probably grows her own weed I mean come on Dragon of Wood, it doesn't just come out of nowhere
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-07
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-18 03:21:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29851785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/s_u_n_b_i_r_d/pseuds/s_u_n_b_i_r_d
Summary: “Did your folks ever tell you the story of The Little Mermaid when you were growing up?”“I....Y-Yeah, I think so? She, uh...she lives under the ocean with her friends Flounder and Sebastian - ““Nah nah nah. I ain’t talkin about the sugar-coated, happily-ever-after nonsense they spoonfeed to kids in the movie theaters. I’m talking about the REAL story of the little mermaid. The one that DOESN’T have a happy ending.”
Relationships: Raimundo Pedrosa/Kimiko Tohomiko, Shadow (Xiaolin Showdown)/Original Character(s)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2





	S.O.S.

**Author's Note:**

> (SOME) SPOILERS FOR MONKEY WRENCH! BELOW. DO NOT READ IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE SPOILED.
> 
> A writing experiment/request from a Discord server I'm a part of. Consider this non-canon (for now). Don't take it too seriously. I just wanted to write me some angst for a one-shot, so thank you for bearing with me, and as always, thanks for reading.

“...hnnn.....uuungh.....W...Wha?”

Stirring awake under the clean white sheets of the hospital bed, Raimundo Pedrosa opens his eyes for the first time in three days. Still drowsy from his long slumber, he blinks once, twice, three times, before the fog in his brain starts to disperse and he slowly begins to piece together reality.

It’s late - very late - that much he can tell. He's coherent enough to deduce from the pale, cool color scheme of the walls and the sounds of hospital machinery in his ears that he's currently in the Infirmary of the Xiaolin Temple. Again.

Anything else is anyone's guess.

Raimundo groans, still trying to summon enough energy to lift his head off the pillow. His eyelids are still heavy, and if someone walked into the room and told him that he had just woken up from a hundred years of sleep, he would believe them, no questions asked. But he also feels...different. Whole. More put together and complete than he has felt in a long, long time. For the first time in forever, Raimundo feels like himself. And as the dim room around him slowly comes into focus, he begins to ask himself what changed between the moment he fell sick and collapsed on the floorboards of his bedroom, to now.

“....Evenin', Sleeping Beauty.”

“.....!”

A familiar voice with a strange accent breaks the peaceful silence, and Raimundo turns his head to his right just a little too fast, which he pays for with a sudden burst of dizziness. A gentle wind blows through the curtains of the open window by his bed, bringing with it the comforting sounds of nighttime in China and the unsettling reveal that he isn't alone. Seated on the window-still and silhouetted up against the full moon, is a tall, thin figure in a green jacket he’s only ever seen in his dreams up until now. The very last person he ever expected to willingly step foot on Xiaolin soil. And, as of late, the very first name at the top of his personal shitlist.

Timber Wilde. The Dragon of Wood.

“It's good to finally meet ya,” the Canadian says causally, keeping her hood up and her back turned to him. “In person, I mean. ‘Bout time, b’y. Was starting to get real tired of you popping into my dreams uninvited.” Taking a moment to light herself up a cigarette, the renegade Dragon takes a deep, slow drag of her personal vice before speaking again, her tone a little too familiar for Raimundo’s liking. “So, you've been out for a few days, huh? That's pneumonia for ya - knocks the wind right out of your sails, and always when you least expect it to. How you feeling, bud? Any better?”

“Y... _You!”_

Raimundo’s words come out muffled thanks to the ventilator covering his mouth, but that does nothing to hide the layers of venom, anger and fear in his voice. The heart monitor next to his bed starts beeping faster, and though he’s constrained by a web of wires and tubes, the Dragon of Wind struggles to get up and launch himself right at his enemy - 

But before he can, something long, thick and snakelike appears from out of nowhere and ties him to the bed, restraining him tightly.

“Easy there, Pretty Boy,” says Timber, her back still turned to Raimundo. Her body language and voice are both eerily calm, even as her network of vines lock him down with the strength and force of wild pythons. “I didn’t come here to cause trouble, now just calm down - “

 _“Liar!”_ spits Raimundo, reaching up with just enough strength to pull the mask off of his mouth so she can hear EXACTLY what he has to say. “All you ARE is trouble! I heard about what you did to the others! Omi, Clay, Master Fung - everyone! That ‘evil in our midst’ Alizeh was always trying to warn me about in my visions - It was you, it was ALWAYS! YOU!” With his heart monitor now going haywire behind him, the Shoku warrior trembles with rage as the evening breezes blowing in from outside began to swirl violently around him, turning the once warm summer air bitterly, threateningly cold. “I should have NEVER tried to help you! You’re gonna pay for what you did to Jermaine! He's never gonna be the same because of you - do you even realize that? Do you care?!" Gritting his teeth, a face flashes across the surface of Raimundo's mind, and a new surge of fear blooms deep in his chest. "You've got five seconds to get off our turf! I swear, I swear, if you lay even ONE finger on Kimiko, I’ll - !”

“RELAX, Prince Charming. Thumbelina is FINE.” With a twinge of irritation in her voice, the girl in the window finally turns to look at him - 

....and he finds himself caught off-guard by the sheer EXHAUSTION in her gaze. 

Despite the thick tangle of weeds still wriggling around his limbs and tying him to his bed, Raimundo freezes at the sight of the dark, dark circles under the other teen's eyes. The notorious Dragon of Wood looks worn out. Sleep-deprived. Stretched too thin. Maybe even on the verge of falling ill herself. Blinking sleepily in the low light of the room, the frail-looking teen looks over at something just past his shoulder and nods once solemnly. “I didn't come here to hurt anyone, Pretty Boy. Not - " She pauses, and swallows, and for a fraction of a second, she looks...guilty. "Not this time. ...Take a look for yourself if you don’t believe me.”

Eyebrows furrowing in confusion, Raimundo follows the direction of her gaze to the other side of the room -

And there she is. Safe and sound.

“Kimiko?....Kimiko?!”

Immediately, the cold winds encircling Raimundo disperse, and the vines around his arms and legs loosen their grip just enough so he can sit up properly to get a better look. Making himself dizzy once more in his haste, he turns his full attention to the couch on the left side of the infirmary room where the Dragon of Fire sleeps in a bevy of blue flowers. No longer trapped in her elemental form, no longer just a weak flame burning inside the safety of a lantern, Kimiko Tohomiko rests peacefully, dressed in Xiaolin red and surrounded by blooms and leaves. She is whole, she is healthy, she is safe - and she is every bit as beautiful as she was before all the madness of the past few months. With her dark, shiny hair and her rosy cheeks, she looks just like Snow White on her funeral bed, waiting for her prince to break her from her curse. 

Teary-eyed with relief, her closest friend and long-time admirer looks on in shock, frozen in total disbelief at seeing her back in her physical form. “How....?” Raimundo murmurs, his voice cracking from emotion at seeing the girl he loves safe....

But then, it hits him.

He whirls around to face Timber once more, but she pays him no mind as she stares up at the sky and gazes wistfully at the moon. The only light in the infirmary comes from that moon - that moon, and the gentle glow of Timber’s cigarette, burning brightly in the dark.

But even so, it’s more than enough to see the charred, burnt edges of her t-shirt and the mummy-like bandages covering her arms.

“You...” It’s clicking now - his sudden energy, Kimiko’s return to her normal state, even the presence of the Wood element all over the infirmary - and as his surprise leaves him breathless and almost speechless, Raimundo looks down at his bed, where the same blue flowers that Kimiko sleeps on adorn his white hospital sheets, like a blanket all their own. “You healed us?!”

Timber blows out a long stream of smoke before answering him, and judging from the skunky smell that suddenly hits Raimundo's nose, it’s not exactly _tobacco_ she’s smoking right now. “I owed you one,” she mutters. “You _and_ Thumbelina over there. You two were in pretty bad shape when I got here - but between you and me, she definitely had it worse. At least YOU still had your body.” 

With a weary sigh, Timber looks back at Kimiko, her expression soft. Caring. Relieved. But all too soon she turns back around, her voice suddenly guarded. “It took some work, but I finally figured out how to fix the link between your girlfriend's chi and element, and get her back to her physical form. Heh. She sure didn’t make it easy for me though.” 

Timber pauses, and holds up one of her arms to peel back some of the bandages and shows Raimundo a tiny glimpse of what is lying just beneath. The moon is bright and it throws Timber’s entire body in shadow...

But it’s not enough to completely obscure the angry red blisters and burns on her brown skin.

Raimundo cringes out of instinct, and as Timber brings her hand down, he sees how slow and measured the action is. He wonders how she’s even able to hold on to that lighter in her hand.

"Your girlfriend sure knows how to leave her mark," Timber murmurs absentmindedly. "I can't even remember the last time I got an injury I couldn't heal. But it makes sense, though, if you think about it - she’s Fire. I’m Wood. When the two come together, it don’t take a genius to figure out which element will come out on top. But hey - “ She shrugs again, holding her hands up in a gesture of casual surrender. “It is what it is. Besides...it’s not like I didn’t have this sort of thing coming....right?”

Her voice is tight and forced, and though she’s making a notable effort to keep both her tone and her body language lighthearted and aloof, it’s crystal clear to Raimundo that this girl is teetering on the edge of...of something dark. Something dangerous. This whole situation suddenly feels...off. TIMBER feels off - even more so than usual, and considering how volatile of a person she's been up until this point, that is SAYING something.

The Shoku Warrior tenses, conflicted by the red flags he sees in the other teen and the unexpected surge of empathy in his chest.. He’s always been a little soft when it came to people in need, but...was there even room for something like that right now? This girl has cried wolf before. Could all this be an act? Just another one of her tricks? Somewhere from the deepest corners of his mind, he hears Alizeh’s warning, ringing clear and true through his head...

_“When you must choose between kindness and justice Raimundo, you are honor-bound by duty to always, always, choose justice. You may not always have the luxury of making the KIND decision, Raimundo - but you must always make the RIGHT one.”_

Part of Raimundo, the part of him that wears the black robes of a leader, stares at the girl sitting in the window and sees an enemy. A problem that must be dealt with. Evil that must be vanquished. That side of Raimundo reads off the long list of Timber's crimes in a cold, unforgiving voice, reminding him of what her actions have done to Omi. To Clay. To Jermaine.

Even to Jack.

The Shoku Warrior in Raimundo warns Raimundo not to fall for this girl's lies again. It begs him, no, DEMANDS him, to get up out of bed and capture her, to bring the renegade Dragon to justice, to keep her from hurting anyone else with her recklessness and lies. The world is at stake.

Of course it is. When is it ever NOT?

But the other part of him - the anxious, vulnerable teenager he really is underneath those shiny black robes, the Raimundo who is gentle, the Raimundo who is kind - that part of him hesitates, holds his breath, and he stays there, frozen, unsure of what to do.

“Do you like mermaids?”

The question comes right out of the blue, and both sides of Raimundo fuse back into one confused teenager as Timber's words snap him out of his stalemate. “W....What?”

“I asked if you liked mermaids,” repeats Timber, turning her body around to lean against the side of the window and pulling her legs in close. Her face is still in shadow, but her eyes catch the light from her cigarette in a haunting, almost ghostly way. “I know you said that you were a surfer, and one of the last talks we had was about how much the ocean meant to you. I know you miss it. I know you’re scared that you can’t go back to it anymore. But...I can’t remember if I ever asked you....” She glances over to him, and though he can’t see what expression she’s making, her doe-like eyes burn a hole right through his heart. “Do you like mermaids?”

When Raimundo doesn’t answer, she turns her face back up to the moon and continues. “When I was little, I told myself that one day I was going to become a pirate. The best pirate the world had ever seen. I told myself I was gonna sail all around the world with my brothers as my first mates, going on adventures, hunting down treasure - and someday, if we were lucky enough, if we were clever enough, we were gonna be the first three people in history to ever meet a mermaid.” 

Raimundo cringes, memories of Dyris and her true, monstrous form seeping into his mind, ugly and unbidden. "You're not missing much, girl," he answers. "Trust me."

"Thanks. I didn't ask." Rolling her eyes at the interruption, Timber blows out another plume of smoke. “Well, anyways, the point I'm trying to make is that when I was little, I liked mermaids. I was in love with them. Obsessed with them. Their songs, their beauty, their gorgeous tails - everything about them seemed so magical and wonderful to a little Newfie girl like me. I'd spend hours by the seaside, combing every tide pool and watching every wave all for a glimpse of one of those beautiful creatures. So I started doing my research on them, like - “ She paused to laugh. “Like they were real people who really existed, yeah? And one day, when I was six, I found a book of fairytales written by Hans Christian Andersen.”

Timber pauses and falls silent for a moment, then turns back to him. “You’re from Brazil, right?”

“Y...Yeah.” Raimundo sits up straighter., still trying to figure out what’s going on. “I was born in Tubarāo, and I grew up in Rio when my grandparents took us in after our folks died. What are you - ?”

“Do you know the story of the Little Mermaid? Did your folks or your grandparents ever tell it to you when you were growing up?”

“I....” Not sure how his conversation with the Xiaolin’s most dreaded enemy veered into such a bewildering direction, Raimundo scratches the back of his neck awkwardly and nods. She doesn't SEEM dangerous at the moment, so he’ll humor her. For now. “Y-Yeah, I think so? She, uh...she lives under the ocean with her friends Flounder and Sebastian - “

“Nah nah nah.” With a dismissive shake of her head, Timber cuts him short, but not in a malicious way - rather, in a way that seems to imply she half-expected this very answer. “I ain’t talkin about the sugar-coated, happily-ever-after nonsense they spoonfeed to kids in the movie theaters, Sleeping Beauty. I’m talking about the REAL story of the little mermaid. The one that DOESN’T have a happy ending.”

Raimundo shakes his head, brows knitted together in confusion.

“Mmm. Figures.” Timber takes another puff of smoke, holding her joint between her teeth as she looks away. “No one ever likes those kinds of stories.” Hugging herself a little tighter, she looks out the window, her raspy voice just a little bit rougher than it was before. “Honestly, there’s not a WHOLE lot of differences between the two versions of the story. In the fairytale, the Little Mermaid dreams about the surface world, and sneaks off to it when her father isn’t paying attention. She sees a prince. She saves his life. And when she realizes that she’ll always be separated from him by the very ocean she’s lived in all her life, she goes to a sea witch to find a way to keep him in her life. And she makes a deal - “

“To trade her fins for legs, yeah yeah yeah, I KNOW the story!” Growing more stressed and impatient by the second, Raimundo shifts over to sit on the edge of the bed, bringing his amputated leg into view. “Is there a rest stop between here and the freaking point?”

Timber falls silent, but not for long. Glaring at him and biting her lip, she sucks in a deep breath through her nose before continuing.

“Everyone knows the Little Mermaid traded her fins for legs. But did you know that in the original fairytale, she has to cut out her own tongue in order to get them?”

Raimundo’s eyebrows fly up.

“It’s true. The little mermaid doesn’t just give up her voice - she cuts out her whole TONGUE, just to get a magic potion that will turn her fins into legs and make her a human girl. When she goes up to the surface and drinks it, it feels like someone’s stabbing her through with a sword. She even passes out during the whole thing. The potion that changes her life and gives her a shot at what she wants most, the burst of magic that transforms her into an entirely new being - it hurts her THAT much. Bet you didn't know that.”

The atmosphere in the room is different now. It's tighter, somehow, and very uncomfortable. Blinking stupidly, Raimundo looks down at his own legs and scratches his face awkwardly. "Uh. No," he says finally. "No, actually, I didn't."

Suddenly, a hand appears in his vision and before he knows it, Timber is placing something in his mouth and lighting it up. Sputtering in surprise, Raimundo sucks in a lungful of smoke and nearly chokes on the joint in his mouth. Shifting back in her seat as the teen on the hospital bed continues to cough and hack, Timber takes another long, deep drag of her own joint, letting her eyes close peacefully. “The Little Mermaid suffers as she becomes a human girl, but unfortunately for her, her suffering don’t stop there. In fact, things only get worse for her as her story unfolds. Her new legs - they aren’t her salvation; they’re a CURSE. See, with every step she takes, she steps so lightly it isn’t long before she becomes known as the most graceful girl in the kingdom - but the whole time, she’s also in incredible, unspeakable pain. She’s literally ALWAYS IN PAIN. Something about the potion she drank makes it feel like she’s walking on sharp knives ALL THE TIME, and it gets so bad, she walks by the sea every night to soak her burning feet in the cool ocean waves. It’s the only thing that eases her suffering...but not by much. In fact, over time, it just ends up adding salt in her wounds.”

Timber pauses again, and pushes back the hood of her jacket to run a hand through her hair with a long, weary sigh. “There’s a lot more to the story, but the main thing is, every day the Little Mermaid suffers with every step she takes, and every night she’s forced to return to the ocean and think about how much she gave up for her stupid, stupid wish. Every night. For months. Years, even. And then....she dies!” 

She snorts. Then chuckles. Then throws her head back and laughs. It's a bitter, empty sound, and it sends a chill down Raimundo's spine. Throwing up her hands in an exasperated gesture, Timber turns back to him, and in the pale light of the moon he sees her flash him a smile, the kind that doesn’t reach her eyes. “She doesn’t become a human. She doesn’t get her prince. The person who she sacrificed EVERYTHING for - her ocean, her sisters, her kingdom, her LIFESPAN - he throws her away like bad fish! Like she never even mattered in the first place! She gets nothing, NOTHING, for all her trouble and all her pain except a sad, lonely death when she turns into sea foam the day after her prince marries someone else. And that’s her story! That’s how it ends.”

The cold, cutting winds that Raimundo had summoned in anger earlier is nothing compared to the merciless silence that now fills the room. Nervously, absentmindedly, he sucks in another drag of smoke, and this time, he doesn't cough it back up. It still burns his throat as it goes down into his lungs, but the sensation isn't as unpleasant as it should be. On the contrary, it's comforting, and the tension in his shoulders and lower back begins to ease up, little by little. There is a yawning emptiness in the infirmary now, hungry and insatiable, and as it mocks Raimundo with each passing moment, he realizes that for the first time in a long time, he doesn’t have a way to respond, sarcastic or otherwise. 

Thankfully, Timber breaks the silence before he does - but when he hears what more she has to say, he almost wishes she hadn’t said anything at all. “When I finished reading that story, the first thing I did was throw the book out my window." She snorts and smiles wistfully. "Didn’t sit well with my folks. Got in a lot of trouble for it. Had to write an apology letter to the library. But I didn’t care, because at that point, even when my mother sent me to bed without dessert that night, all I could think about was just how absolutely livid I was with the story I had read. I was so...disappointed, and...disgusted...by how stupid the Little Mermaid had been, giving up everything she had, everything she loved, everything that made her special...for NOTHING. Ha. Ha ha! And I asked myself - ha! - I asked myself, how could anyone be so DUMB, to throw away their entire life for some stupid, impossible wish? For ONE person? For _LOVE?"_

She's laughing again, but harder this time around, and it's an ugly sound, a broken sound, far worse than anything that's come out of her mouth all night. It sets Raimundo on edge and triggers something deep within him, the parts of him he tries to keep in check. And suddenly he's angry all over again. His team is broken. His loved ones have suffered. Jermaine has changed because of this girl's manipulative, heartless actions, and there is nothing Raimundo or Omi or ANYONE can do to fix him. And Clay....

....Clay....

Here, here is the person responsible for his breakdown. Here is the person responsible for his pain - _everyone's_ pain - sitting in front of him like she owns the place, wasting his time with a useless anecdote about an old fairytale that has no relevance to the situation at hand.

And she's LAUGHING.

Like a wave smashing up against the rocks, his patience shatters violently into a dozen pieces, and the wind starts to blow once again as he clenches his fists and grits his teeth. "You're _crazy,"_ he hisses angrily.

Timber stops laughing.

Somewhere in the Temple, the clock strikes midnight. Twelve chimes ring out, one after the other, and each one intensifies the electric silence around the two Dragons. Raimundo holds his breath, preparing for a fight. He can't stand without his prosthetic, but so what? He can still raise some Hell.

He can still take her down.

"...Yeah. You're right."

"....!"

A tear falls, sparkling in the moonlight like a diamond. Then another. Then another. As Raimundo grips the sheets of his bed and tries to understand what he's looking at, the Dragon of Wood turns to face him with a tired smile on her face, even as tears pour down her face like rainfall.

"You're right," she says again, this time with a dreadful, exhausted acceptance. "I _am_ crazy. I sh..." She pauses, and bites her lip, forcing back a sob ax her face begins to crumple and she stubbornly wipes away her tears. "I should have just stayed at St. Dymphna's when I had the chance. Maybe then....!" She laughs again and shakes her head, and her smile is gone. "Maybe then Jermaine would be okay. And Jack wouldn't hate me. And things wouldn't have had to come to this. Stupid." she snorts. "So stupid. All I do is break things. Families, friendships, people. But not anymore. Not if I can help it." 

Suddenly, something launches itself out of the dark and winds itself around Raimundo. The Dragon of the Wind screams as another vine, stronger and thicker than the others, captures him in its grip and keeps him from being able to direct the now scattered wind currents blowing all around them. Cursing and swearing up a storm in Portuguese as he drops his joint and tries to get free, Raimundo watches with a dawning fury on his face as Timber stands up and begins to walk away. "Where are you going?!" he shouts.

Timber sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose in irritation. "You still don't get it, do you, Prince Charming?"

"What are you talking about, you psycho?! Get back here! Don't you dare run away from the mess you made!"

"Who says I'm running anymore?"

Turning towards him once again, Timber slowly walks back over to Raimundo's side. He watches her come closer, breathing hard and so mad he feels like he's about to catch fire. He waits. and with surprising tenderness, she cradles his face in her hands and looks deep into his eyes.

"I met someone, Prince Charming," she says slowly, her voice low and rough. "Someone powerful. Someone who could do things I couldn't. Someone who could bring my Dad back." She closes her eyes and lets out a long, steady breath. "When I was little, my Dad used to bring home things he found tangled up in his fishing nets. Broken bottles, machine parts, even a license plate once. The last thing he ever brought home....it was a crown. An old, old crown. And there was something inside it."

Raimundo stares back at her, his expression softening. He listens to what she's saying, and what she's not saying, and as he begins to piece the clues together, he suddenly realizes just why she was talking about mermaids and happily never afters moments ago. His anger begins to evaporate, replaced by horror, horror and a new sense of clarity. "You....made a deal with him...." he murmurs, breathless. "You....you made a deal with the Monkey King."

Timber looks down at her feet in shame and nods. "It....wasn’t the brightest thing to do," she admits hoarsely. "In fact, it was probably the SECOND worst mistake I ever made in my life. But I was small. And I was desperate. And I had nothing left to lose. I never forgot the story of the Little Mermaid, or the stupid deal she made for the wish that ended up killing her. I knew from the start that our little deal was gonna get me killed one day, too. But I didn't care." She shakes her head, keeping her eyes down. "I didn't care ONE BIT. So long as I got what I wanted, I was willing to watch the whole world burn if it meant I could make it happen. But Jermaine...he changed that. JACK changed that. Meeting them changed everything. And that's why... that's why I'm not going to let it end like this."

"W...Where are you going?!"

Raimundo's stomach begins to sink as Timber pulls away from him and begins to walk away. He struggles against the vine holding him in its grasp, but it's no use. Its far too strong, and whenever he tries to squirm his way lose, it just shifts to accommodate itself around his form, keeping him trapped in its woody clutches. "Wait," he calls, his eyes widening in panic at the sudden flash of gold in her hands. "Wait!"

Timber doesn't respond, instead running her hands along the blades of the Golden Tiger Claws. "Those two boys are the best thing that ever happened to me," she murmurs, more to herself than anyone else. "This world...they both care about it, in their own ways. And they both fight for it in their own ways too. I'm not gonna let it burn, and I'm not gonna let them go down with me either."

"No! Listen to me, don't do this!" Struggling against the vine and trying to pull free, Raimundo tries, again and again, to sink into a state of absolute calm. But the panic and fear in his chest is intensifying by the second, rendering him unable to enter the meditative state Alizeh had shown him. He's no idiot, and he's no stranger to desperation either. He knows what's about to happen, he knows what she's about to do, and worse still, he knows there's no way he can talk her out of it. And yet, he tries to anyways. "Don't do this, please, I can help you! All of us, we can all help you!"

"No," she answers calmly. "You can't."

Raimundo tries to think light thoughts, peaceful thoughts, but he fails, again and again and again. Resigned to her fate, Timber pulls her hood back up over her face and slashes a hole through space and time. "Golden Tiger Claws!" 

A loud RRRRRIIIIIIPPPPP echoes through the air, and suddenly the room is aglow with the strange shadowy lighting of a portal that leads to parts unknown. Raimundo looks on, gripped by dread and filled with terror - but not for himself. "Don't do this!" he begs again. He knows, he doesn't know how he knows, but he KNOWS, that this will be the last time he ever sees this girl. And despite all the atrocities she's committed, despite the hatred and anger that still burns deep inside him like the smoke he inhaled earlier, he's still Raimundo Pedrosa, and he's not about to sit idly by while someone walks away to their death. "TIMBER - !"

"I met a witch of my own, Prince Charming," she calls out to him over the whooshing noises of the portal. She looks out into the shifting void, silhouetted up against the silvery-purple light, a faceless shadow once more. "Not a sea witch, but a witch nonetheless, and a powerful one too. She made me an offer I couldn't pass up. If I play my cards right, you, your team, and everyone else who ever got caught up in this whole mess will make it out okay."

"What about you?!"

She stiffens and turns her head to the side. "What ABOUT me?"

Her response sends a shiver up his spine, and his eyes go wide as Timber turns and prepares to jump through the portal. "So long, Prince Charming. It's been nice knowing ya, b'y."

"N...No," Raimundo breathes, pinpricks of moisture gleaming at the corners of his eyes. "NO!"

"Take care of Jermaine - "

"No, please - !"

"Keep an eye on Jack - "

"No! STOP!"

"Make sure Tex knows that none of this was his fault - "

"TIMBER!"

“And Raimundo?”

It’s the first time in the brief span of their rocky friendship that she has ever used his real name. And Raimundo's mind goes blank at the sound of it. And when she turns to face him, her eyes full of tears, for one brief moment in the light of the summer moon, it’s not her that he sees standing there. It's someone else, a young boy in a white hoodie, with a golden pendant around his neck and bright green eyes that catch the light of the portal.

He blinks, and Timber is there once more. She's smiling now. Smiling, and crying.

“...I'm sorry. For everything.”

Timber turns around, and suddenly time seems to move slow. Raimundo squeezes his eyes shut, and for one blissful second, he's able to achieve the inner peace Alizeh taught him. His body melts away into nothingness, transforming into air currents as he enters his purest elemental state. He's nothing more but a powerful, silvery wind, and as he slips free from the tangles of the vine that once gripped him, he dashes forward, reaching out for the corner of Timber's jacket.

For one second, he almost has her. And she's almost safe.

But the fear in his heart breaks the state of peace he needs to stay in this form, shatters it, like a rock crashing into a mirror. And he flickers, and flickers, and suddenly he's solid once again. He falls to the floor, mere inches away from the portal, as the girl he once called a friend slips away forever.

And the portal closes. And she's gone.

Sprawled out on the floorboards, Raimundo stares at the empty spot where Timber once stood, breath choppy, eyes watery. As his hair falls over his eyes, he grits his teeth and squeezes his eyes shut.

But it does nothing to stop the flow of tears that pour down his cheeks.

There's a storm inside of him now, a hurricane of emotions, and he shouts in anguish as he pounds his fist on the floor once, twice, three times, four times...

Behind him, Kimiko stirs. She awakens and looks down at herself in awe, but it isn't long before she turns her attention to Raimundo. Immediately, she runs over to him, trying to calm him, to soothe him, to get him to stop hitting his fist against the floor. He's starting to hurt himself. She yells at him to stop. Begs him to stop.

Finally, in an act of desperation, she grabs him by the shoulders and forces him to look at her.

The Dragons of Wind and Fire stare into each other's eyes. Raimundo's fury dies down as he sees Kimiko's wide blue eyes in the moonlight for the first time in ages, and she feels her heart break at the way he's shuddering and shaking with each sob.

They embrace each other.

She doesn't understand what's going on. He can't bring himself to even begin to explain what happened, what he couldn't stop, who he couldn't save. All he can do his sob into her shoulder as he clings on tightly to her red robes, and she rocks him back and forth and reassures him that whatever's gone wrong, she's there for him. And this time, she's not going anywhere.

They stay like that for a long, long time.

\------------

Up on a hilltop overlooking the Xiaolin Temple, Shadow's ears twitch at the sound of a portal tearing its way through time and space.

A familiar head of blonde and blue hair appears out of nowhere as Timber jumps through the portal and lands on the grass on shaky, unsteady feet. Wobbling to and fro like a tree in the breeze, she only manages to make it about a few steps before she falls to her knees, breathing hard as she stares off into nothing. A tear falls, then another, then another, and soon she collapses on the ground completely, her face crumpling as she lets out a sob of despair...

And she breaks down.

Shadow watches, the catlike pupils in her jade eyes widening a little in surprise. The sight is something she had definitely expected, given Little Miss Springtime's mental state earlier. She's been oddly quiet all night, responding to each and every one of Shadow's barbs and petty insults with absolute silence. She's been like that for a few days now, come to think of it. So in the end, she expected this unseemly behavior, this shameless display of weakness and emotion.

But what she hadn't expected, what currently sends an uncomfortable chill down her spine, is the impact the other girl's tears are having on her.

She should feel disgusted. She SHOULD be furious. But instead, she feels....something else. Something she can't identify. An emotion for which she has no name. It crawls under the shapeshifter's skin like beetles and makes her itch from the inside out, and it churns round and round deep in her gut, weighing her down and making her feel as if she's somehow got an anchor tied to her ribcage. The other girl trembles and buries her face in her free hand as she falls into despair, and before she knows what she's doing, Shadow takes a step forward and reaches out to place her hand on her shoulder...

But the person beside her is far faster. And her actions...far crueler.

"Well! You certainly took your sweet, sweet time, didn't you?" Slinking over to the sobbing girl on silent feet, Wuya tosses her hair in annoyance as she gazes down at the broken Dragon. "Honestly, could you have BEEN any slower? I may be immortal, but I happen to value my time just as much as the next person, girl."

Timber doesn't answer. Instead, she continues to cry quietly at the witches' feet, shoulders shaking as she hugs herself, almost as if she's trying to keep herself together in the most literal sense possible.

"Oh, come now," Wuya coos as she begins to circle around Timber like a vulture. "Dry those tears. Isn't this what you wanted? To fix everything you broke? To undo the mess you made?" Crossing her arms with a huff, Wuya turns her nose up haughtily in the air like a pechulant child, and suddenly Shadow is overcome with a sudden urge to slap her across the face. "You're making me feel bad, you know. I think a few thanks are in order here - after all, I didn't HAVE to bring you back here. I didn't HAVE to give you the chance to heal my former associate, or that little fire hazard he's in love with. The least you could do is show your appreciation for my boundless mercy." Turning back to Timber, she puts her hands on her hips and raises an eyebrow, unamused. "Well? Go on then. Say it. Here let me help you out. Ahem!" Using her magic to warp her voice into a mockery of TImber's raspy Newfoundland accent, she clasps her hands together and flashes her fangs in a sickly sweet smile. 'Thank you, Wuya! I love you, Wuya!'"

...No response.

"Hmmph." Green eyes narrowing in the moonlight, Wuya rolls her eyes in disgust. "Well, YOU'RE no fun." Turning on her heel like a general preparing for war, she claps her hands twice like a stuck-up socialite summoning a waiter to their table. "Shadow!"

"...!" Noticing that her claws came unsheathed during Wuya's one-sided conversation with Timber, Shadow stands at attention, ears wiggling nervously. "Ma'am?"

"We're leaving." Cocking her head back at the sobbing girl on the ground, the Heylin witch breezes past her servant, swaying her hips as she casually begins to walk away. "Be a dear and keep an eye on your new toy, would you? I would HATE for our new....associate...to 'accidentally' lose her way back to Chase's lair."

"Uh...Yes, Ma'am." Watching the hag walk away with a strange new emotion rising in her chest, Shadow turns back to the girl on the grass. She's stopped crying, and now, she rests on the ground, curled up in a little ball. Utterly silent. Utterly still.

Shadow has never seen her rival this BROKEN before.

It doesn't bring her as much satisfaction as she thought it would.

Sucking in a deep breath through her nose, the teal-haired shapeshifter awkwardly makes her way over to Timber. She comes to rest just a few feet behind her, rubbing her arm self-consciously and kicking at a few rocks in the dirt in an effort to break the uneasy atmosphere. "Uh...Hey, Springtime. How's it hanging?"

Silence.

Coughing uncomfortably into her hand, Shadow tries to reaffirm her authority - but right now, she doesn't really feel in control of anything at all. "We, uh....we should probably get going." Crouching down, Shadow places her hands on TImber's arm and starts to pull her to her feet. She's never touched Timber this gently before - she's never treated ANYONE with this amount of care before - but though she's not entirely sure WHY she's doing it, she knows it's what Timber needs right now. "Come on, then, Sheila. Let's get a move on - "

WHAM.

Out of nowhere, Timber launches herself forward, burying her head in Shadow's gut and knocking the wind right out of the shapeshifter's lungs. With more force than Shadow ever thought the Canadian was even capable of, Shadow goes tumbling to the ground, flying back a good four, five, SIX feet from the strength in Timber's tackle. Coughing and holding her aching tummy, Shadow turns around to face her rival, and her pointed ears flick backwards like a frightened cat at the sheer VENOM in Timber's glare. "Don't touch me!" she shrieks, her voice warped by rage, and it's actually enough to make SHADOW lean away in fear. "Don't you EVER put your stinkin' claws on me again, you _monster - !"_

SMACK.

A blur of red and black suddenly appears out of nowhere, and as Timber reels back and cries out in pain from the force of Wuya's slap, she chokes on her scream as the ancient witch suddenly grabs her by the throat and slams her up against the trunk of a nearby tree. As the Dragon of Wood lolls her head from side to side dizzily in the witch's grip, Shadow's eyes grow big and scared as Wuya brings her face in close and begins to dig a long, sharp nail into the side of Timber's face. "Honey, I'd lose the attitude if I were you. Shadow may be just a minion - a minion with a shockingly disappointing track record, no less - but her life still outranks yours by a long shot. She is EASILY worth a thousand of you. You are nowhere NEAR as valuable as you think you are, so I suggest you learn some basic manners, got it?"

Timber doesn't answer, but she pulls at the fingers that are steadily crushing her throat. As the color in her face darkens and her breath starts to leave her body, Shadow's irises shrink to the size of pinpricks, and she stumbles up to her feet, forgetting her place. "M-Mother!"

Wuya ignores her, opting instead to tighten her grip on the Canadian's throat. "I asked you a _question,"_ she hisses at Timber. _"Do you understand?"_

The only sounds that come out of Timber's mouth are wheezes as she desperately tries to inhale every last little bit of air she can. She nods, hastily and fearfully, and finally, Wuya lets her fall to the ground and watches as she gasps and draws in lungful after lungful of sweet oxygen. 

Immediately, Shadow rushes to her side, running on all fours like an animal until she's holding Timber by the shoulders, watching the color return to her face. Undeterred by her normally stoic servant's sudden show of kindness, Wuya simply sighs and runs her hands through her long hair, posing like a supermodel under the light of the full moon. "You're running with MY crowd now, Timber. There's a pecking order in the ranks of the Heylin, and you happen to be at the very bottom. I don't care how powerful you are, sweetheart - your little gardening skills don't hold a handle to Shadow, OR to me. So you best keep your ego in check."

Timber keeps her eyes on the ground in front of her as she nods, hands shaking harder than they ever have before. Shadow can't see the expression on her face - it's hidden behind her hair - but a sudden presence of salinity in the air confirms that she's begun to cry again. Wuya sashays forward, utterly terrifying to Shadow, even with that ridiculous runway walk of hers, and Shadow has to force herself not to bare her teeth threateningly at her own mother as the Heylin witch bends down and chucks Timber's chin until their eyes meet.

"Stop your theatrics, stand up, and get your butt back to the lair," she demands coldly. "As per our written agreement, you belong to me, and I need you. You have a job to do, Timber. And you're going to follow through on it, whether you like it or not. And remember - "

She smiles, and the sight makes Shadow sick. Gently, lovingly, Wuya boops Timber's nose with one finger, and her green eyes glow wickedly in the dark.

"I'm all you have now."

And with that, the Heylin witch stands, smooths her dress, and begins to walk off, humming a cheerful tune under her breath.

Shadow watches her go, too scared to blink, her ears flicked back and her hair standing on end. Her claws are out again, and it's taking all she has in her to stifle the growl in her throat. Without really thinking about it, she pulls Timber closer to her, shielding her from the witch with her own body -

But Timber pushes her away.

Shadow whirls around as Timber stands up, pushing herself up off the ground with a quiet grunt. In the light of the moon, she looks so broken. So tired. There are burns on her arms and bruises on her neck. Her lip is bloody, and her face is still red from where Wuya had slapped her. Not even on Shadow's most vicious days had she ever left the Dragon of Wood looking anywhere near this awful, and she feels absolutely no satisfaction at seeing the girl she once called her greatest enemy in this state. She can't understand how Timber is even standing up right now. She doesn't know where she's getting the strength.

Shadow opens her mouth, but before she can say anything, Timber walks past her, following Wuya in bitter, broken silence. A few moments later, Shadow does the same.

The moon is behind the trees now, and all that's left above their heads is an endless sea of stars. As the three deadly women walk together in absolute darkness, Shadow glances over to the girl at her side, watching her curiously as they make their way back to the citadel.

Timber's eyelashes....are quite long. The longest Shadow has ever seen on a girl.

Shadow isn't sure how she's never noticed them before.

Suddenly, her eyes meet Shadow's, and the shapeshifter looks away, unsure of why her cheeks suddenly feel so hot.

But it isn't long before she steals another glance at Timber. Then another. Then another.

During the entire journey back, and for the next few months that come after, Timber doesn't say a single word. Not once. Not at all.

And in the weeks that follow, Shadow never stops wondering why she misses the sound of her voice.


End file.
